Pvt aided schools asked to entirely fund RTE seats

The state government has asked private aided schools and private unaided schools that have received any prior government concessions to fund students falling under the Right to Education Act’s 25% quota entirely. The state is also still unclear on how many seats in private schools will fall under this quota.

The state government has asked private aided schools and private unaided schools that have received any prior government concessions to fund students falling under the Right to Education Act’s 25% quota entirely. The state is also still unclear on how many seats in private schools will fall under this quota.

“The Act clearly says that all private aided schools which any government funding will have to bear the expenses of education of at least 25% students from the social and economically weak sections,” said JS Sahariya, additional chief secretary (school education).

Many private schools in the state, whose fees start at Rs1 lakh, have received concessions from the state such as land and infrastructure at reasonable rates.

The state government on Wednesday had announced said that they would reimburse up to Rs11,000 annually for 93,848 poor students who will be studying in 9,744 private unaided schools. But the state is still has to identify how many schools have received any concessions or the exact number of seats these schools have. The state will reimburse a total of Rs 95 crore.

“The department is still processing the number of poor students that will be admitted in these private schools through the quota. All the figures will be clear in the next few days,” said JS Sahariya, additional chief secretary (school education).